To use a leather belt for purse or tote bag handles, first assemble the tools. My favorite sources for belts are the Goodwill where they are $1.99 each, or the Genesis Thrift Shop in Dallas where they cost less than $5. I've tried lots of different kinds, and I prefer leather that is not bonded or sewn. Lots of belts are a different color on the back side. For handles I like the front and back to be the same color.
Cut the leather to length. If you don't like the holes in most belts, cut the the end off and make a shorter strap. Or punch holes the entire length of the belt to make them look intentional.
The easiest way to attach them is to use rawhide and lace it in place. The rawhide lacing makes a nice, strong junction. I would hate to have the handles fall off of something I had made.
For a rawhide lacing attachment, use a leather punch for a nice neat hole. Depending on the size of the bag, I usually either use four holes or six, but you really could lace it any way you would like. On the natural colored wool bag in the photos there are four holes in each end of the belt. Since the top of the bag is folded over, I put a slit in the top edge and sandwiched the leather in between the wool so the lacing could go through two layers of felt. It is a fairly large bag and I wanted it to have extra load bearing area. I use small scissors that have a very sharp point for poking holes in the felt. You can see the belt end peeking out of the bottom of the folded over edge in one photo.
If you don't want the lacing to show, cover it with something. On the outside of the bag I sometimes use beads threaded through the lacing. On the inside I often line the top several inches to both cover the attachment and add a contrasting color or texture.
When using belts that are woven strips of leather I poke the lacing through existing gaps instead of using a leather punch.
These need to be rephotographed because the ombre silk is washed out in the bright sunlight. However, this is made from upcycled burnout ombre silk and black merino wool. The edges are slightly ruffled.
I love the curly locks on this bag. All of the wool is undyed. The gray is Shetland, the white is Falkland, and the curly locks are Lincoln lamb. There is blue and white upcycled cotton nuno felted in the "window" surrounded by faux pearl beads. The strap is an upcycled leather belt. This bag didn't shrink anywhere near as much as the merino bag in the previous post, which was made on the same mold.
This was a gift I made for a friend. The inside of the bag is white and the exterior is black, but felted together it looks gray. I sandwiched some assorted brown fiber in between layers so they would peek out where I snipped the surface with scissors. The wool is merino and the handle is an upcycled belt.
Even though it has a strap and a magnetic closure I'm not sure this bag is done. I've been looking at it for ages without the top folded over and it just wasn't working out. Folding the top over and buttoning it down helped. The strap made it even better. The flower still might get more needle felting. I'm really pleased with the bright yellow happy pocket interior.
I had a bag full of seashells that I've wanted to incorporate into a felted bag. I thought about felting a face and using the shells for eyes, but the lavender color might have looked either creepy or vacant. Anyway, I like them just as plain shells with some art yarn scribbled around them. 
